Gallup: Senate may be #Up4Climate, but …

posted at 2:41 pm on March 12, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Senate Democrats held an overnight session on Monday to highlight the need for action on global warming, while simultaneously offering no action items whatsoever. This impressed almost no one, including Dana Milbank, who called the effort “hot air.” Heck, that at least deserves a mention here:

But burning the midnight oil in this manner is peculiar. Usually, when a lawmaker talks all night, he’s trying to stop the majority from passing something. But these guys are trying to persuade the majority — themselves — to pass something.

Joining the late-night guerilla action was Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who as the Senate majority leader is usually a target of filibusters, not a sponsor. If he and his colleagues really want action, they don’t have to lose sleep. All they have to do is bring a climate-change bill to the floor. …

[T]hey figured their antics in the wee hours would display their dedication for all Americans to see — or at least insomniacs who watch C-SPAN2. It also might impress Democratic donors. As The Post’s Ed O’Keefe reported, Democratic senators discussed plans for the filibuster last month at a fundraiser held by liberal billionaire Thomas Steyer.

Basically, it was a fund-raising event, aimed at one particular donor. And that’s probably just as well, because as Gallup has repeatedly found, global warming sits at the bottom of voter priorities, even when voters are given the opportunity to choose more than one priority for Congress to address. Today’s poll demonstrates just how out-of-touch #Up4Climate was:

Twenty-eight U.S. senators held an all-night “talkathon” Monday to call attention to climate change, an issue that only 24% of Americans say they worry about a great deal. This puts climate change, along with the quality of the environment, near the bottom of a list of 15 issues Americans rated in Gallup’s March 6-9 survey. The economy, federal spending, and healthcare dominate Americans’ worries.

This was the first year Gallup included “climate change” in the list of worries tested in the annual March Environment survey. Americans are less worried only about race relations than they are about climate change. The majority of Americans say they worry about these two issues “only a little” or “not at all”; more than half of Americans worry about the other 13 issues at least “a fair amount.”

But environmental issues have momentum now, right? Right? Er …

Thirty-one percent of Americans indicate that they worry “a great deal” about the quality of the environment this year, marking the lowest level of worry about the environment more broadly since Gallup began measuring this in 2001. Americans were most concerned about the environment in 2007, when 43% worried a great deal.

Gallup charts the trend on the broader environmental question:

Note that the pattern roughly fits with the perception of economic growth and opportunity. It’s not an exact correlation, but the 40+ levels only came when the economy was robust (and especially when it was perceived as such). Otherwise, the level of “great” worry over environmental issues is in a narrow minority.

The real priorities of Americans at the moment are the economy (59%), federal spending and deficits (58%), and health care (57%) — an issue that cuts against Democrats this year. Unemployment comes in a surprising fourth, at 47%, but it’s still nearly twice as high as climate change (24%).

When Gallup breaks priorities down by party affiliation, the #Up4Climate stunt looks even more ridiculous. Even among Democrats, climate change only gets 36% mention in a non-exclusive list of concerns — ranking far below the economy (54%), health care (57%), hunger and homelessness (53%), and unemployment (52%). Only illegal immigration (26%), the size and power of the federal government (29%), and race relations (23%) ranked below climate change among Democrats, although potential for terrorist attacks was in a virtual tie with climate change at 35%.

Senate Democrats only managed to highlight their own impotence with their overnight stunt, and their own out-of-touch status with the electorate. Small wonder only 28 of their caucus chose to self-identify as clueless on Monday night.

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Senate Democrats only managed to highlight their own impotence with their overnight stunt, and their own out-of-touch status with the electorate. Small wonder only 28 of their caucus chose to self-identify as clueless on Monday night.

The rest of the caucus will use Obamacare to self-identify themselves as clueless. They’ll pick a night in the near future and take turns reading variations of ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ to show up the GOP and Sarah Palin while defending the EpicClusterFark.

Well, I for one did. It usually isn’t this blatant but it isn’t like Harry Reid or any of the rest of the critters don’t have a price. Just wait until some billionaire decides that the Senate floor would make a great place for their kid’s birthday party. They would move Daniel Webster’s desk to make way for the bouncey house and face painting.

Basically, it was a fund-raising event, aimed at one particular donor. And that’s probably just as well, because as Gallup has repeatedly found, global warming sits at the bottom of voter priorities, even when voters are given the opportunity to choose more than one priority for Congress to address.

From my comment on the headlines thread:
From my Real Science comment:
In order to get “the little people” worried about global warming climate change the fear mongers needed to make up a bunch of bs “scary scenarios” that were pure bs. Their own words:
“Unless we announce disasters no one will listen.” -Sir John Houghton, the first ipcc chair
“We have to offer up scary scenarios… each of us has to decide the right balance between being effective and being honest.” -Stephen Schneider, lead ipcc author, 1989
“The only way to get our society to truly change is to frighten people with the possibility of a catastrophe.” -Daniel Botkin, ex Chair of Environmental Studies, UCSB
The people won’t listen to them, they admit, unless they are constantly druming up pure scare mongering baloney. Eventually, though, the people start to grow weary of or get wise to this. Or the people have just had enough, realizing that the scary scenarios are little more than fabricated hogwash. Now their most recent and outlandish “scary scenario” is a patently absurd notion that thawing corpses will reinfect the world with small pox.
Right, this small pox thing is the latest scary scenario they’ve “offered up,” and the Dems got their idea on how they want to “truly change” society as they are filibustering on climate change in the senate the other night. The idea of the Dems, taken directly from Obama’s Science Czar John Holdren is to “de-develop the United States… [and] design a stable, low-consumption economy.” Or force us to suffer with $10+ a gallon gas prices as Obama’s ex Energy Secretary Chu said “somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” or Obama himself who said that his plan (that thankfully he has not yet been able to implement) would cause electricity prices to skyrocket. Yeah, skyrocket, Obama’s word. Total craziness. Here we have China and Russia going full speed ahead with developing their countries and energy infrastructures, while are effete pusillanimous leaders seek to unilaterally eunuch-ize our own country. Sad. Horrendous actually.

First, it was global cooling. When that didn’t pan out, it became global warming. When the global temps steadied for the last 15 years, the new mantra morphed into,’Climate Change’. I submit that the only things that need changing are these sycophants’ diapers. What has been coming out of their mouths has become so caustic to their teeth and gums, they have moved their crap to their nether regions and begun to fill their drawers with the same odoriferous blather, but, at least it was with the (usual?) purpose of conning big bucks from big business dolts.

Probably need some more individual pieces of legislation as the house is not particularly conducive to bloviation like the Senate. Present a series of individual clean bills that will create jobs and will create energy. Lay down the gauntlet in a very public way and let President Obama and Democrat party writ large do what they always do….

What this little late-night gabfest goes to demonstrate is the INCREDIBLE obstructionism of Rethuglikkans, who while in the minority have forced the noble Senate Democratix who care so deeply about our wounded environment to filibuster themselves on legislation they can’t even bring to the floor because racist socon extremist Teabags are OBSTRUCTING them at every turn.

The hypothesis that the climate is changing due to excessive greenhouse gas buildup in the beually change no matter what the atmospheric conditions might. Therefore the hypothesis is not falsifiable, which at the same time makes it un-proveable. It may be many things, but it sure isn’t science.

Should have read: The hypothesis that the climate is changing due to excessive greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere is problematic, because climate will perpetually change no matter what the atmospheric conditions might be. Therefore the hypothesis is not falsifiable, which at the same time makes it un-proveable. It may be many things, but it sure isn’t science.